Keywords

1 Background and Industry Analysis of Intelligent Mutual-Aid Delivery Services on College Campuses

1.1 Background

Online shopping has become increasingly important for college students thanks to the development of Internet. According to the Industry Development Report on Campus Parcel (2019) issued by China Education Logistics Association and Ali Research, the number of campus parcels in China is expected to grow from 2.5 billion in 2018 to 3 billion in 2019. Assume that China has a total number of 38 million college students and that the average annual expenses on educational, recreational and social activities per person is 4000 yuan, then the average number of parcels each college student receives in a year totals 78, 1.8 times that of the national average. It should be noted that the college market is worth over 200 billion yuan although college students earn no income. Such a unique market is especially worthy of attention for logistics and e-commerce businesses considering the much higher average number of parcels that college students receive compared to the national average.

1.2 Industry Analysis

The rapid development of Internet economy has made online shopping n integral part of people’s daily lives. Online shopping has brought about substantial convenience for students, but the “last-mile” delivery services on campuses are impeded.

80% of students reportedly have encountered delays or difficulties while picking up their parcels during “Double 11” and “Double 12” shopping festivals. There are primarily two views about picking up parcels on campuses from college students: it is too far away; it takes too long due to too many people and slow processes. Students have to pick up their parcels at designated on-campus parcel centres in person because delivery persons are now allowed onto campus. It costs time for both students and delivery persons as both of them need to wait. There are also other problems. For example, there are much fewer students picking up parcels at lunchtime but it can be quite crowded after class; students may forget bringing their ID cards while picking up parcels and that costs them much more time to handle the issue. Considering these problems, it is of vital practical significance to investigate the application of efficient and large-scale “last-mile” delivery services on college campuses.

College students are not only the largest consumer group but also the largest Internet population, who assimilate new ideas and spread knowledge fast and are favoured by enterprises. Despite some existing problems, campus e-commerce and delivery services are bound to grow rapidly in the near future thanks to improvement in digital campus construction. The intelligent mutual-aid delivery services on college campuses enjoy substantial market potential as long as science-based management approaches are adopted which take into consideration students’ consumption features.

1.3 Intelligent Campus

China issued the Overall Framework for Intelligent Campus in 2018, which systematically elaborated on the overall planning of intelligent campus and made clear provisions for intelligent teaching environment, teaching resources, campus management, campus service and information security system, setting national standards for intelligent campus construction. “Intelligent campus” uses highly-developed computer network as its core technology, uses information and knowledge sharing as its means, centres teachers and students, and serves teaching, research and management activities. “Intelligence” is shown in four aspects, namely, in-depth sharing of resources, high-speed flow of information, intelligent delivery service, mating and sharing of information.

Intelligent campus is a complex formed with Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud computing. It can also be seen as an upgrade of digital campus. One of the features of intelligent campus is that its information platforms are constructed thanks to the rapid development in network and communication technologies, which enables sharing of resources to a certain extent. Maximal transmission efficiency can be obtained and businesses are streamlined. It also enables intelligent management of the campus through these platforms. Unified treatment is also available for campus delivery through intelligent individualized services. Since the intelligent services have to be available throughout the campus, a fully operating network is necessary for the construction of information platforms. Schools need to pay due attention to Internet infrastructure development and keep abreast of new software and hardware systems. A stable and high-speed network connection is pivotal for accessing the information platforms at any time at any place. Moreover, intelligent campus also enables communication with other schools in terms of logistics information, which integrates the school’s achievements in mutual-aid delivery services into the international academic circle and promotes the school’s reform and innovation.

2 Status Quo of Last-Mile Delivery Service on Campus

2.1 Status Quo of Campus Parcels at Home and Abroad

The parcel industry is growing rapidly with campus beings its huge potential market, but the last-mile delivery service still needs huge improvement in most domestic colleges, which impose similar restrictions: off-campus personnel are now allowed onto campus, including delivery persons for parcels and takeaways. In the meantime, many schools have been exploring new ways of parcel management. At the present, many Chinese colleges have implemented pilot experiments in campus parcel centres. There are mainly three modes: under the direct management of the school, jointly managed by enterprises, intelligent parcel lockers. The first is guided by the school authorities and implemented by the school logistics department. The school offers a venue for parcel companies and manages these companies. The second mode allows parcel companies to establish agents on campus. The “Remin University Parcel 100” mode that was put into use in 2013 has been widely used in many other schools. Many colleges established self-service parcel lockers since then. Parcel receivers would pick up their parcels with passcodes sent to them by delivery persons.

Outside China, campus parcel delivery services usually belong to Third-Party Logistics (TPL). It appeared in as early as the 1980s in Europe, where it was generally believed that logistics services not offered by manufacturers and retailers belong to TPL. In the United States, 57% of logistics services are offered by TPL. The figure in Japan reaches as high as 80%. So far, TPL services account for one third of the global total and are growing at an annual rate of 15%. A number of parcel institutions outside China have established their own campus terminals, avoiding the issue of chaos with too many parcel companies to some extent. A mature campus parcel service scheme known as Campus Express has been formulated over many years of development in western campuses. These campuses would normally have their own logistics websites that integrate campus parcel services and campus online shopping. Take Harvard University: Chinese consumers may purchase Harvard souvenirs through the University’s shopping website, and shipping of the souvenirs would be processed by Harvard logistics including designating a parcel company and finally shipping the goods. In most examples, campus parcel centres are responsible for managing different parcel companies in an integrated platform and for delivering the parcels on campus. Their services are continuously improved to form a complete parcel ecological environment featuring all of shopping, shipping and transporting.

2.2 Campus Service Environment Analysis

The campus service environment is a key component of the overall service process. Incorporating its service design into the study of campus service environment construction is thus of crucial significance to improving the intelligent campus services. This can be done by considering four aspects of work, namely: people, things, process, environment. This requires analysing, planning, optimizing and innovating components of the environment system from a holistic view. The essence of campus services is service. The prerequisite of intelligent campus service is the holistic study of campus services and implementation of a system. Service design is a key engine propelling the service sector in foreign countries. It is therefore of paramount importance to introduce it into the design of campus services, spanning from top-level design to service management, from organization to personnel, from environmental optimization to information construction, so as to establish a college campus service system throughout all dimensions. The present investigation uses the tool of service design and bases the study on the service feature of college campus service environment. It summarizes the main components of college campus service environment, with a focus on the construction of a service environment on the organizational and individual levels. The study aims to address the construction issue of system, platform and holistic layout of campus services. The ultimate output is a service application scenario of intelligent mutual-aid campus services.

3 Analysis of the Intelligent Mutual-Aid Delivery Service Design at Beijing City University

3.1 Existing Problems

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Users’ concerns

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All the parcels of Beijing City University are collected at one distribution centre, which takes up an area of around 300 m2. Campus parcel delivery services arise as a result of restricting parcel delivery persons from entering campuses. After investigating student users who receive and ship parcels, this study summarizes six existing problems, namely: time conflict, long distance, long-time queuing, carrying, sanitation concerns, extreme weather (Fig. 1). For problem 1, time conflict, students may not have the time to pick up parcels either when they are off campus due to weekends, holidays, field studies and researches, or when they need to attend certain classes and have no spare time. Problem 2 is long distance. This campus has nine dormitory buildings, six of which are over 1000 m away from the parcel distribution centre. Students would not like to travel that far to pick up only a few parcels (Fig. 2). Problem 3 is the time spent on queuing. Delivery persons would normally send the passcodes at around the same time for too many parcels, leading to too many students coming to pick up parcels at approximately the same time and the distributing centre being overly crowded (Figs. 3 and 4). Problem 4 is the difficulty in carrying heavy parcels, more often in the cases of female users. Whey the parcels are too big or too heavy, the user may find it difficult to carry the parcels back. During shopping festivals, it can also be difficult to carry too many parcels without convenient tools. Problem 5 is poor sanitation conditions at the parcel distribution centre, which needs to be improved. Problem 6 happens in extreme weathers. On extremely hot or cold days, for example, students are not willing to go out. The above six problems are especially prominent, although there still exist many other minor problems, all of which affect the delivery service experience that users receive to some extent.

Fig. 2.
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Dormitory buildings for males (blue) and females (red) (Color figure online)

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Fig. 3.
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Queuing to pick up parcels during class breaks

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Queuing to pick up parcels during class breaks

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3.2 Real Demands: User Empathy Map

User empathy map may better help discover users’ concerns so as to find better solutions. The present study targets the problems found in the last-mile delivery services and proposes attempted solutions. Numerous trials are made to verify its effects, feedbacks and influences. The following seven questions are used to better analyse users’ real demands.

  • Who discovers the problems?

  • How do users think about last-mile delivery?

  • What do users see?

  • What comments do users hear from others?

  • What do users talk about the most as a result?

  • What are users’ biggest concerns?

  • What rewards make users feel happier?

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Empathy map

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The empathy map shows that more improvements are still needed in picking up and shipping parcels. It also shows the contradictions between what users want and what is in need. The comparison reveals the real demands of users when they pick up parcels.

Figure 5 shows that students discover the problems in last-mile delivery services. They might find that the distribution centre is too often overly crowded; their parcels are mistakenly picked up by others; they have to wait a long time in the queue; it is difficult for them to carry the parcels that are too big or too heavy, etc. The research has revealed what students are thinking about and what difficulties they are having while picking up parcels. It is also found that they also would like a platform where they could find someone who would help them pick up their parcels without leaking their own privacy, so that they have more time spent on what they enjoy doing.

3.3 User Demand Classification and User Satisfaction Analysis

Kano model is a customer satisfaction model that classifies and sorts quality factors. It is based on analysing the influence of customer demand on customer satisfaction and reflects the nonlinear relationship between quality factors and customer satisfaction. According to the different influences that different quality factors have on customer satisfaction, quality factors are classified into five types in Kano model: one-dimensional quality (O), attractive quality (A), mandatory quality (M), indifferent quality (I), reverse quality (R). One-dimensional quality means that customer satisfaction would increase should the service is offered, otherwise customer satisfaction would fall.

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Classification of users’ concerns

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In this study, questionnaires were distributed online. A total number of 354 responses were collected, with 280 effective ones. In-depth analysis on the responses based on Kano model is carried out, leading to 23 indexes. As shown in Fig. 6, the concerns are classified as: picking up parcels, shipping parcels, sanitation, platform experience. Respondents chose among “very satisfied”, “satisfied”, “neutral”, “unsatisfied”, “very unsatisfied” (Fig. 7).

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Quality classification table in Kano model

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Fig. 8.
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Corresponding property type in Kano model

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Figure 8 shows that there are a total number of 23 service quality indexes, including 10 mandatory properties, 7 one-dimensional properties, 3 attractive properties, 3 indifferent properties. This implies that basic needs of shipping and picking up parcels should be prioritized in the service design ahead of improving other services. In the meantime, customers’ expected demands should be emphasized. That means, to enlarge the service scope to include more apartment buildings and people of different ages. Enhanced customer experience requires cutting-edge technology and intelligence that should be applied on parcel equipment. The attractive demand should also be satisfied which requires that the parcels are not damaged.

3.4 Feasibility Analysis

The above research data reveals that intelligent campus mutual-aid delivery service is more stable, efficient and convenient. It also features high availability and extensibility. Therefore, the implementation of such a service plan is analysed from three aspects of user experience, technology and platform management.

The experience of users, the first beneficiary in service design, is the most important part in the whole design process. After conducting researches through field study, questionnaire and in-depth interview, the present design analyses numerous issues including the real demands, user concerns and solutions in terms of the “last-mile” delivery service at Beijing City University and obtains various kinds of analysis data. The application of last-mile delivery is carefully reviewed under various scenarios. The influence scope, user expectation and rigid demand on the service are compared. The results indicate that the present design is suitable for Beijing City University. Meanwhile, the technology level and platform management in the service sector remain immature in its development. Data screening and search algorithms may well be combined with 5G technology to offer better services for users. Platform management is mainly used to cultivate the mutual-aid consciousness in students and to enhance its service performance management. A series of stimulus and reward mechanisms are devised for some key elements in the service, so as to enhance the integrated quality of service personnel. This might also help cultivate the mutual-aid consciousness among students and their own managerial ability. Personnel management is key to enhancing the integrated quality of service personnel, the quality of campus last-mile delivery services, and the overall satisfaction of users. In addition, an effective management system helps stimulate sustained passion among its service personnel and generate more businesses to the company. Judging from the platform management, the present service design is feasible.

4 Intelligent Mutual-Aid Delivery Service Design at Beijing City University

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Scheme of the plan

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Mutual-aid is a natural law that describes how mutual benefits can be guaranteed through cooperation. Intelligent mutual-aid delivery service is an intelligent campus delivery mechanism in the form of mutual help. Official accounts on WeChat may have a number of premium functions where developers are able to define autoreplies to certain texts sent from users. They may also respond to users’ messages and requests through information matching. The following functions are therefore made possible: Users enter the official WeChat account and place an order according to his/he demand. The keywords for shipping parcels include: intended shipping time, place, reward for urgent tasks, fee check, etc. Students need to register before using the service. They offer services after taking orders posted from others. The features include: (1) Online communication, offline pick-up. Demands from both parties are efficiently communicated and chosen on WeChat. Parcels are distributed to different time periods throughout a day, enhancing the convenience of the service. (2) A service is formed where students help students and on-campus demands are addressed on campus. It further integrates parcel services into students’ daily lives and extends the depth of the system (Fig. 9). (3) The shipping service is optimized. On-campus students have various types of demands on shipping, such as shipping common parcels, parcels during winter and summer holidays, parcels on graduation, etc. The latter two types are usually larger and heavier and are costlier. The parcel distribution centre may offer some discounts to benefit students and improve the college campus parcel market. (4) It extends the service contents. In addition to shipping common parcels, the distribution centre may also offer personalized services on campus, such as sending flowers and gifts, personalizing wrappers, etc. The documents to be communicated between different school departments may also be delivered by students as well after they take the order.

4.1 Design Process

The service studies user demands and behaviours in different service stages through various types of technology. It also portraits users through correlation study and cluster analysis, so as to offer clearer demands. The service design starts from designing a blueprint and analyses user concerns by combining offline service processes. The user experience is continuously enhanced by address user concerns and optimizing the service process. Meanwhile, the service design is based on online platforms considering user preference. The small app prevalent on WeChat is also used in the service design. Linear, layered and network structures are combined with user behaviour processes. User habits, features of their grade and major are interactively integrated in the design. Diversified service design is used to satisfy users’ different needs.

The service design has users’ demands and campus delivery as its core. Based on the frameworks of WeChat official account and online shopping platform, it is an intelligent, convenient and open platform that incorporates shipping parcels and picking up parcels.

User Registration and Verification.

Users need to fill in their identity information on the first login after entering the WeChat official account. They need to choose their school, grade, major, etc. They are only allowed to post orders within their school. Users will be directed to the verification page after successful registration. The verification status can be of one of the three types: not under review, under review, verified. Only verified users can post or take orders.

Developers have to strictly handle identify verification requests and approve verification only after careful review.

Users Post Orders.

Verified users may post detailed information about the parcels, including its size, type, intended receiving time, comments (if the parcel if a fragile one, etc.), the complete message, receiving address. Users may track the order status at the personal centre. They can also cancel orders that have yet to be taken. Orders not taken by 8 pm will be deleted.

Users Take Orders.

The order list shows all the orders of the school that the user belongs to. Users may choose appropriate orders to take and then drop the parcels at designated places. Users may confirm the order upon dropping and obtain corresponding scores. Parcels not dropped within the designated time range will be withdrawn and scores will be deleted.

Users Confirm Each Other.

The server needs to confirm the order on the platform after dropping the parcel, otherwise the order would be withdrawn. The receiver has to confirm the receipt on the platform then. If the receiver does not confirm it beyond the set time, the order would be automatically confirmed.

Credit Rating.

The receiver may rate the server according to his/her attitude, speed and parcel quality. The sender may also rate the receiver according to his/her attitude and whether the information provide is accurate. The rating is linked to scores.

Feedback.

Users may provide feedbacks on any problems and complaints. Users may also contact customer service staff who will help check the parcel location, delivery time and server information.

Management by the Manager.

The platform manager may manage various kinds of information, including: users, identity verification, order list, parcel type, address, parcel standard, feedback, etc.

4.2 Framework of the Service Functions

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Framework of the login page

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The login page demonstrates the essence of communication between people and things, which is a natural process in app. Users may access the app’s various functions only after successful login. The above figure classifies users into two types: “servers” who help deliver parcels and “users” who posts demands on the app. Different usage properties are used to determine the different functions of app users. Different login methods are assigned on the login page. For “servers”, he/she has to log in with a mobile phone number in order to better collect servers’ information, which is also the first step in identify verification. For “users”, he/she may log in with the method he/she finds the most appropriate. After logging in with different roles, he/she may have operations specific to that role (Fig. 10).

Fig. 11.
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Functional framework of the mutual-aid delivery service

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The framework design focuses on the navigation bar and page layout, so that users may find the required information in the shortest time possible. The interface design is demonstrated in the form of a functional framework. It helps organize and optimize the design process as well as compare and convert different functions. This functional framework (Fig. 11) is centred on users and servers. It is formulated after numerous updates and satisfies the habits of both servers and users while minimizing the contradiction between the two. The pick-up, sharing and mutual-aid procedures are streamlined and standardized on different pages. In the framework, the functions that link one interface to another are also matched and verified, making the app management more reasonable. It also enables users in different roles to better understand the order status.

4.3 Service Blueprint

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Service blueprint

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The service blueprint offers an easy-to-perceive design process for service design. In the design of the campus intelligent mutual-aid delivery service, the service blueprint may be used to categorize users’ behaviours. The design may integrate elements like users’ time spent on these processes, frontend operation, backend operation, technology support, etc. The service blueprint (Fig. 12) starts from user behaviour. While users edit the order, the frontend operation and backend operation work simultaneously to share users’ demand information in real time. This ensures that all the steps are closely linked and accurately matched, so that the overall service is normally running. Each operation made by the user on the app would be matched to a backend operation, which records the user’s operations in real time. For example, while users enter information in the frontend page, the backend is receiving the information and sharing the formation in real time. The information is tracked throughout the process and is therefore made fully transparent.

4.4 Conceptual Graph

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Flowchart of the designed service

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The intelligent mutual-aid delivery service perfectly matches the online small app and offline delivery service in a real-time, comprehensive and accurate manner. The online small app is easy to use and has a concise layout and clear steps. The information is tracked throughout all steps to ensure accuracy. In the offline delivery process, users may confirm each step on their own. Steps are interlinked and cannot be missed. The parcel information is automatically tracked by the system. Each parcel has a unique code that ensures accuracy. User privacy is also protected to the greatest extent by offering only necessary information like name, telephone and address. User photos and parcel contents are hidden. Big data technology is adopted to analyse the different demands of students in different majors, grades and study levels on the service. The delivery service is available throughout the campus. It incorporates different parcel companies and enables a multi-layered and multidimensional “last-mile” delivery service engaging many users. This service fully implements the idea of “students helping each other”.

The present design vividly shows the procedure of campus intelligent mutual-aid delivery service. A big data-enabled analysis presents the most representative procedure. For example, Wei Zhang goes to the teaching building to attend classes and receives text messages about picking up a parcel. Since he is in class, he opts to spend his scores and place an order on the WeChat small app. If anyone takes his order, he would be notified. In this way, Wei could concentrate on his class. He may reserve the time and place to pick up the parcel and confirm receipt on the small app. The service system (Fig. 13) shows that the service is intelligent, convenient and humane since it incorporates the idea of “users serving users” throughout the overall service procedure and addresses users’ concerns about time, distance, weather, conflict, queuing and charges. For overly large and heavy parcels, carts are available to help users better handle them. This also enhances the overall efficiency and also serves as an innovation of the school and the parcel company in their management. Therefore, parcels are managed in a centralized way, and a low-cost, low-energy-cost and efficient parcel delivery service is available. Users’ satisfaction is greatly enhanced after addressing the “last-mile” issue.

5 Value and Significance of the Present Design

5.1 Value

Due to the long-term impact of the coronavirus pandemic, campus delivery service system ha snot fully realized its value. The availability, reliability and value change in last-mile campus delivery combine to drive the campus intelligent mutual-aid delivery system. Meanwhile, the pandemic has also enlarged the potential of online shopping. The user-centred design principle is especially used in campus environment construction. Both school-led intelligent service system construction and campus service cultural environment expansion are crucial in addressing the last-mile delivery issue. They also hold key positions in realizing the value and goal of mutual aid and intelligent service.

With a focus on practical application, this study analyses the campus intelligent delivery construction and attempts to address the “last-mile” campus delivery issue. Big data screening and search algorithms offer more practical user experiences and form the ultimate last-mile delivery service design scheme. The design may cultivate students’ innovation and entrepreneurship consciousnesses and in the long term, could formulate effective joint mechanisms with off-campus enterprises and training centres. This may help on-campus students better manage their time in study and work, and develop their self-study and practical capabilities. Students are also able to develop their own networks and accumulate social experience. The design also helps the school handle cooperation with parcel companies in a more standardized way and improve campus sanitation situations in a short time. The school may also benefit from upgrading from information to intelligence. The long-term cooperation between the school and parcel companies also engages the latter into the campus environment and makes them an integral part of the school’s employment opportunities and campus culture.

5.2 Significance

The campus intelligent mutual-aid delivery design is an open platform that could enhance cooperation between various parcel companies and promotes their service quality and available traffic. This is not only an innovation of service design in terms of last-mile campus delivery, but also an innovation of school and parcel companies in management and cooperation. The centralized management is low-cost, efficient and consumers less energy, significantly enhancing users’ experience. The service could be part of campus intelligence construction. If the geology, culture, history and environment factors of the campus are all taken into account, then quality innovation services and products are expected to be generated in the future. This study offers an integrated intelligent mutual-aid online platform, which implements the idea of intelligent service, mutual-aid delivery, college-wide participation and develops a culture of teachers and students helping each other.

6 Conclusions

The campus intelligent mutual-aid delivery design effectively addresses the campus last-mile delivery issue and offers reasonable user experience throughout the whole design process. The study focuses on Beijing City University and intelligent service and mutual-aid delivery. By collecting and analysing users’ demands and determining demand factors, the study converts concerns into pleasures so that users are more willing to use and enjoy the service. Similar designs could be applied to other universities in the future, but their different situations should be considered in the design process. Only in this way can the campus intelligent mutual-aid delivery design be applied more widely.